Side bearing



July 5, 1932. ocnwm 1,865,900

SIDE BEARING Filed Sept. 7. 1927 INVENTOR. RN$T G. 60017 vw/v F/ .2 BY

fl/J ATTORNEY Patented July 5, 1932 UNETEID STATES ERNEST G. GGODWIN, OF IBELHAM, NEW YORK SIDE BEARING Application filed September 7, 1927. Serial No 217,989.

This invention relates to side bearings and i has for its principal object the provision of means for increasing the life of the bearing and in addition for rendering it convenient to replace a worn or damaged bearing seat.

The present invention may be considered as an improvement in the seat of the side bearing shown in my Patent No. 1,627,432, May 3, 1927, in which structure the seat was a square piece of metal not quite half an inch thick and which could be removed only by cutting off and replacing the three rivets which secure the side bearing housing to the bolster. In the present device the seat is readily removable from the housing without destroying any of the rivets; all that is necessary being to remove the cotter pin and the positioning rod, whereupon the seat may be turned end for end or may be replaced by a new one if the seat has already been turned. It might be noted here that it is not possible to reverse the seat shown in my cited patent because after the seat is once worn concave the beam action will tend to break the seat for when ends and the load would be in the center directly over the worn concave portion. The spring steel of which these seats are made would snap under such circumstances especially in the heavier cars.

In the drawing Figure l is a top plan view.

Figure 2 is a central vertical section.

The truck bolster 10 and the body bolster 11 are each of the usual type as shown in my patent, the upper or body bolster being slotted at its outer or front end as at 15 and having a soft steel fillet l6, shim 17 and spring steel wear plate 12 secured to the body bolster as by the rivet 19. In my previous patent it was my intention to take care of the clearance by placing the shim under the lower wear plate or seat but I find that by placing the.

shim between the fillet and upper spring steel seat all the advantages may be secured as it is relatively simple in any event to replace the shim should this be necessary. I prefer a clearance of about one-ei hth of an inch but some companies prefer somewhat greater clearance, one-quarter of an inch being per- 3 reversed the seat is supported only at its two tain speed of travel the rocking is synchro-v nized and the car might readily topple, hence the clearance should be maintained at a tolerance not inch.

The housing 23 is secured to. the lower or truck bolster 10 by the four rivets 24 as shown, two being at the ends of .thevrunway and the other two outwardly from the center line of the car. This runway is a generally channel-shaped path for the roller having a flat bottom 25 and outward and inward sides 27 and 2.8, the bottom having a central recess 30 to receive the roller seat31 which is preferably as much. as five-eighths of an inch thick and is of high-grade hardened spring steel while the housing is preferably of malleable iron; Conforming to usual practice the two walls of the runway are not straight but curved, the radius being twice the distance from the center. of the car to the center of the housing or roller when in mid-position. V

The two parallel walls are. each strengthened by the usual ribs such as 34. An inwardly projecting triangular plate 3.6 has an integral sleeve which forms the pivotal support of the positioning rod 41 which is pierced at the lower extremity of its vertical portion 42 to receive a cotter pin 43 preventing removal of the rod from the housing except when desired. This positioning rod 41 extends centrally thru the roller 44 and terminates in a vertically extending portion 45 and received within the slot 15 of the upper or body bolster 11. The seat 81 is of'such length as to extendvfairly snugly from the outer wall 27, to the down-turned end of the positioning rod, the latter holding the seat in place. I find that I can make this seat as narrow as three inches, for a space of two inches will take care of practically all normal greater thanone-quarter of an travel and the relatively soft metal of the fiat bottom of the path to each side of the hardened steel seat is not damaged in any way by the wear given it within warehouse yards, for example, as the cars are always traveling very slowly at such times and the mileage 1 is so extremely small, relatively.

In actual practice the roller wears very evenly all over but the seat wears in a groove at right angles to the centerline of the car.

, As a natural consequence the seat is worn long before the roller has decreased in diameter to an appreciable degree and therefore by extending the seat as illustrated instead of having it merely the width of the channel double life can be given to the bearing as the seat or bearing plate can be turned end for end, either upside down or not, as desired. While seemingly of little importance this feature is very valuable as the increased cost of the longer seat is inappreciable compared to the labor required in cutting 01f the four rivets and in replacing them, this being particularly true where facilities are not readily available for work of this type. Any ordinary railway mechanic can readily turn the seat v 31 end for end at which time the bearing will be in condition for an equal span of years service.

What I claim is 1. In a roller side bearing for railway cars, a roller, a positioning rod, a guideway for said roller having a removable roller supporting and engaging section, said section being held against lateral displacement from the guideway by the positioning rod only, whereby the said section may be removed from the housing simply by removing the said rod.

2. In a roller side bearing for railway cars, a pair of bolsters, a wear plate secured to the top bolster, a housing having an arcuate runway secured to the lower bolster, a roller in said arcuate runway, a positioning rod, a wear plate beneath the roller during ordinary travel of the roller and held in such position by the positioning rod, said plate being of such dimensions that when the positioning rod is removed it can be turned end for end, affording an entirely unused portion beneath the roller.

3. In a roller bearing for railway cars, a housing having a plane runway, parallel walls on two sides of said runway, one of said walls having an opening therein to receive a wear plate to lie flush with the plane bottom of the runway, a wear plate twice as long as the runway is wide, and detachable means for holding the wear plate in position so that it can be turned end for end to provide an unused wear portion.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

ERNEST G. eoonwru. 

